Vertical gun rack



Nov. 1, 1960 J. CALOIERO ETAL 2,958,422

VERTICAL GUN RACK Filed April 29, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS: JOHNCALOIERO ALDO MICHELINI RAYMOND P. ROCCHI I naw/foul: ATT YS Nov. 1,1960 J. CALOIERO ETAL VERTICAL GUN RACK Filed April 29, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 ,l2 l2 3 .4 Q52 FIG.5

INVENTORSI CALOIERO ALDO MICHELINI RAYMOND F! ROCCHI BYMJM M06415.

ATT'YS Unite Sttes VERTICAL GUN RACK Filed Apr. 29, 1958, Ser. No.731,819

Claims. (Cl. 211-4) This invention relates to a gun rack of the type tosupport guns in vertical position, the rack being capable for use insome instances for insertion in a cabinet which has doors with locks. Inother instances, the rack is to be used outside of a cabinet.

The gun rack of the invention for supporting guns in vertical positioncomprises a bottom or horizontal flat rail having oval sockets formed inits upper surface, the sockets being arranged at an angle to receive thebutts of gun stocks.

A top fiat horizontal cross rail is spaced a predetermined distance fromthe bottom rail or base, these two rails being secured at opposite endsto spaced vertical stiles. The upper fiat rail is provided with openingsto receive the barrels of various types of guns, such as single barrelguns, side-by-side double barrel guns, over-and-under double barrelguns, and automatic or pump shotguns, as well as rifles. The top rail,containing the barrel receiving openings, is horizontal and is securedto a vertical top cross member which is mortised into the stiles atopposite ends. The top rail also has its rear edge mortised in the fiathorizontal member. Also, a tie rod is connected to the stilesintermediate their upper and lower ends thereof, and at the back of therack for securing the stiles in rigid position. The openings in theupper fiat horizontal rail are relatively in the shape of four leafclovers, so that the barrels of the various guns will readily fit inplace and in proper alinement with the diagonally positioned buttsockets in the bottom rail or base.

In instances where the gun rack is to be arranged inside of a cabinet,front slots are cut through the front of the horizontal rail and mergeor communicate with the clover-shaped openings, thus permitting ease inapplying and removing the gun from the top rail.

In cases where the rack is to be used as an outside fixture or elementwithout any cooperation with a cabinet, the front ends of theclover-leaf are closed, and a horizontal locking rod is arranged infront of the guns, Whereupon the guns may be locked in position andcannot be removed except by operating the locking rod which is normallylocked in closed position by a padlock. The closed clover-leaf in thetop horizontal rail is so positioned with respect to the base of therack that a gun may not be removed by pulling the gun upwardly, as theguns will have their forearms engaged with the bottom of the horizontalrail, and even though a gun is turned, it may not be pulled out ofposition because the forearm of the gun will not only contact the bottomof the horizontal rail, but the locking rod will become engaged with thegun trigger guard or a part of the gun stock below the trigger guard.

Provision is also made for an angularly arranged rack so that the rackmay fit easily and snugly in the corner of the room. Particular lockingmeans of a secret nature, more or less, and manually manipulated, isprovided for locking the guns in the corner gun rack.

A primary object of the present invention is the proatent O i 2,958,422Patented Nov. 1, 1960 vision of a new and improved gun rack forarranging guns in vertical position, and to permit easy and quickremoval thereof from the rack when the rack is to be inserted in acabinet, whereby the guns may be moved outwardly forwardly and notengage the back of the cabinet so as to stratch or otherwise mar theinside of the cabinet.

Another object consists in the provision of a gun rack having ahorizontal top rail provided with four cloverleaf cut outs which mergewith front slots or openings through the front of the top rail so as topermit a gun to be easily and quickly removed from the rack withoutdamaging the inside of the cabinet in such cases where the gun rack isto be inserted inside of a cabinet.

Another object consists in the provision of a gun rack for mounting gunsin vertical or upright position, there being a fiat base or bottom railhaving elongated sockets to fit the butts of gun stocks, the outer sideof an outer socket being spaced further from a side stile than the outerside of a gun butt socket at the opposite end of the base, whereby theguns may be arranged. at an angle to disclose the beautiful wood grainof the stocks, the sockets for the butts in the base being in properalinement with respect to the gun barrels so that when the guns arearranged in position in the clover-leaves of the horizontal top rail,the guns will remain in vertical upright non-tilted position.

A further object consists in the provision of a horizontal top railhaving openings therein in the shape of a four leaf clover, a pair ofthe openings of each clover-leaf being closed and being straight withthe front edge of the top horizontal cross rail so as to accommodateguns of difierent kinds.

A still further object consists in a new and improved gun rack which isprovided with new and improved means for preventing guns from beingremoved from the rack when a locking rod is arranged in locked position.

Still another object consists in the provision of a horizontal top railwhich has the straight four-leaf-clover formation merging with a frontto rear eleongated slot extending through the front of the top rail andmerging with the clover-leaves, the top rail being positioned at apredetermined height so that the guns may not be removed from the fourleaf clover because of engagement with the shotgun forearms, when thecut outs or front merging slots are omitted.

Still another object consists in the provision of a corner gun rackhaving gun supporting means and a manually manipulated secret means forlocking the guns in position in the corner rack.

Numerous other objects and advantages will be apparent throughout theprogress of the specification which follows.

The accompanying drawings illustrate certain selected embodiments of theinvention, and the views therein are as follows:

Fig. 1 is a detail perspective view of a gun rack for normal use outsideof a cabinet, and embodying the invention, the view showing a pluralityof guns arranged in vertical position;

Fig. 2 is a detail top plan view of the horizontal top rail, looking inthe direction of the numerals 2-2 of Fig. 1;

' Fig. 3 is a detail vertical elevational view of the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the corner gun rack embodying theinvention;

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 2, but showing the fourleaf-cloveropenings merging with front slots in cases Fig. 6 is a detail transversesectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1, and showing the improvedlocking bar means of the invention and locking means therefor;

Fig. 7 is a detailed elevational view of the locking bar and. meansshown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a detail front elevational view showing the gun supportingmeans and the gun locking means of the corner gun rack of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 9 is. a detail plan sectional view on the line 99' of Fig. 4".

The particular construction herein shown for the purpose of illustratingthe invention comprises a vertical gun rack 1, Fig. 1, having a bottomrail or base 2. A top, or upper, horizontal rail 3 is arranged apredetermined defi nite distance above the top of the bottom rail orbase member 2. The rails 2 and 3 are mortised in the side stiles 4 and5. Instead of a mortise and tenon connection, as herein shown anddescribed, the upper and lower rails 2 and 3 may be secured to thestiles 4 and 5 in any desirable manner, such as by gluing and screwingthe rails to the stiles. The lower rail 2 is spaced a certainpredetermined distance beneath the bottom of the top rail 3. The upperand lower ends of the stiles 4 and 5 project a predetermined distanceabove and below the upper and lower rails respectively.

The base or bottom rail 2 is provided with a plurality of paralleloblique sockets 6 which receive the butts 7 of the stocks 8 of guns 9,Fig. 1. The sockets 6 are shaped to conform with the butt ends of thestocks, the outer rear ends of the sockets being wider, as indicated at10, and the front ends of the sockets being narrower, as indicated at11,. to accommodate the shape of the butt ends. The sockets 6 arearranged obliquely at substantially a forty-five degree angle to thefront and back sides of the bottom rail 2 so that the ornamental woodgrain of each stock may be easily seen. The front end 11 of a socket 6,at the left of Fig. 1, is spaced a distance farther away from the stile4 than is the right-hand side of the righthand gun with respect to thestile 5, Fig. 1. Reversely, the thickened end of the left-hand stock isspaced closer to the stile 4 than is the rearward end of the stocksocket with respect to its opposite stile 5. The guns may be insertedangularly in position with the right-hand gun stock, Fig. 1, beingsomewhat closer to the stile 5 than the stock of the left-hand gun, Fig.1, is spaced from the stile 4.

The upper horizontal rail 3 is provided with a plurality of spacedopenings 12 in the form of four leaf clovers to receive the barrels 13of the guns such that the butts of the guns will lie flat on the bottomof their sockets 6. These four-leaf-clover openings 12 comprise foursubstantially identically shaped, relatively rounded parts or lobes 14,Fig. 2, to receive the gun barrels 13, and ordinarily prevent thebarrels from shifting in their openings 12. The lobes 14 of each opening12 are spaced substantially ninety degrees apart, and thereby define twopair of diagonally arranged lobes and a line passing through the centersof one pair of diagonally arranged lobes is substantially coincident tothe longitudinal axis of the gun butt socket 6 aligned therewith while aline passing through the centers of the other pair of diagonallyarranged lobes is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axisof the aligned gun butt socket, as can be seen in Figs. 1, 2 and 5. Theclover-leaf openings are thereby capable of receiving a single barrelgun, as indicated as in the first left-hand opening, or a side-by-sidedouble barrel gun as shown in the second opening from the left, or anover-and-under double barrel gun as shown in the third opening from theleft, Fig. 2. The guns shown in Fig. 1 and the barrels indicated in Fig.2 are representative only of various types of guns, and, of course, theguns may be shifted from one position to another. For instance, in Fig.2 the second opening contains a conventional side-by-side double barrelgun, but a double barrel gun is shown fourth from the left in Fig. 1.The positioning of the guns is immaterial, just so the proper butt liesin a socket 6, and the gun barrel 13 is arranged in its properfour-leaf-clover opening.

The front and rear edges 15 and 16 of the four leaf clover openings 12are oriented relative to the front and rear edges 17 and 18 of thehorizontal top rail 3 so that common lines tangential to the roundedparts 14 at the front and rear edges of each opening parallel the frontand rear edges of the horizontal top rail. These common lines are atsubstantially forty-five degree angles to the longitudinal axes of thegun butt sockets.

An ornamental cross bar 19 is arranged at the upper end of the rack, andis mortised out at the front side thereof to receive the rear end of thehorizontal top rail 3. This cross bar is connected to the side stiles,preferably by mortising the member 19 in the side rails, and is arrangedso that the rear side of the member 19 is flush with the rear edges ofthe stiles 4 and 5, Figs. 2 and 5.

The distance between the under side of the top horizontal rail 3 and thetop of the bottom rail 2 is such that when the guns are to be removed,they must be raised a predetermined amount to clear the butt end of thestock from the base member or rail 2, whereupon the gun may be moved atan angle to remove it from a four-leaf-clover slot 12. However, it isdesirable that some means be provided to prevent unauthorized removal ofthe guns from the rack 1. Therefore, a horizontal locking bar 211 isarranged on the forward side of the rack, as shown in Fig. 1. Thislocking bar 201s positioned at a point slightly above the gun triggerguards 21; and inasmuch as there is a rear tie rod 22 positioned behindand below the locking bar 20, the guns may not be removed from the gunrack because upward lifting of the guns is limited because of the gunforearms 23, the locking bar 20, and the cross bar or tie rod 22.Therefore, when a gun 9 is raised a predetermined distance, the upperend of a gun forearm will engage the under side of the rail 3, and eventhough the gun is turned, it cannot be slid out of the gun rack becauseof the position of the locking bar 20 and the rear tie rod 22, therebeing insufiicient space between the bar 20 and the rod 22.

Guns may not be removed from the rack 1 when the locking bar 20 isarranged in position because the fore-' arm will strike the bottom ofthe upper rail 3. Should the guns be raised, even though the guns wereturned at a position so as to have their stocks flat or normallyparallel with the locking bar 20 and the tie rod 22, they still couldnot be removed, as the thickened part of the stock would prevent angulardisplacement of the guns by reason of the members 20 and 22. The gunsare prevented from being turned and removed from the gun rack because ofthe barrel in the four-leaf-clover opening, and the stocks coming inengagement with the front locking rod 20 and the rear tie rod 22 preventthe guns from being moved out of either front or back of the rack. Theguns, therefore, are prevented from having their lower ends moved eitherforwardly or rearwardly because of the position of the members 20 and22, and cannot be raised a distance sufficient to clear the rods 20 and22 as the forearms 23 limit the upward movement of the guns.

The locking bar 20 is adapted to be slid longitudinally horizontally outof an elongated opening 24 in the stile 4, the opposite end of thelocking bar 20 being prevented from being slid to the right, Figs. 1, 6and 7, because an opening 25, which extends through the stile 5, is

a padlock, Figs. 1 and 6, whereupon the locking bar is prevented frombeing slid too far to the right, Figs. 1,.

6 and 7, because of the projection 28 at the right-hand end of the bar20 where the wider part of the bar joins the narrower part 26. A hasp ofa padlock may be inserted in the opening 27, whereupon the locking bar20 is prevented from being slid to the left because the padlock or otherlocking means will abut against the outside of the right-hand stile 5.

It is often desirable that the guns be mounted in a cabinet, and if suchis the case, the locking bar 20 may be dispensed with, as the doors ofthe cabinet may be locked, the entire gun rack and its guns fittingwithin the cabinet. However, if the upper end of the cabinet wererelatively close to the muzzle of the guns, it would be nearlyimpossible to remove the guns from the rack. Also, when the closedfour-leaf-clover opening design 12 is employed, the guns would have tobe tilted at an angle to get them in and out of their respectiveopenings 12, and such angular displacement, or movement, of the gunswould tend to scar or mar the inside of the cabinet, as well as probablydamaging the gunsight on the gun. Therefore, the clover-leaf openings 12may be provided with a slot 29, Fig. 5, which merges or communicateswith the four-leaf-clover opening 12. The guns, therefore, may beslightly raised to remove the gun butt from the socket, whereupon thegun may be pulled straight outwardly. The advantage of the clover-leafdesign, merging with the slots 29, Fig. 5, for use inside of a cabinetis that the cabinet will not be scarred or marred, as the guns may beremoved easily and quickly, but each gun barrel will lie in the roundedcorner edges of the four cloverleaf openings 12, Fig. 5.

The gun rack, which is to be inserted in a cabinet, is identical in allrespects with the structure disclosed in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7, exceptthe locking rod 20, Figs. 1, 6 and 7, is omitted, and thefour-leaf-clover cut outs or openings 12 merge with the slots or cutouts 29, Fig. 5.

A gun rack embodying the four-leaf-clover openings in the top rail isshown in connection with a corner gun rack 30, Figs. 4, 8 and 9, whereinthere are a pair of spaced vertical stiles 31 and 32 which are disposedat an angle of ninety degrees. The gun rack 30 includes an arcuateshaped lower rail or base member 33 and an upper rail 34, the rails 33and 34 having their opposite ends mortised in the stiles 31 and 32. Theforward ends of the rails 33 and 34 are curved, as shown in Fig. 4, andtheir rear ends 35 and 36, respectively, may be relatively straight. Astraight tie rod 37, which is disposed in a horizontal plane, is securedto the stiles 31 and 32 at the rear thereof, being nailed and glued, orotherwise secured, to the respective side rails 31 and 32, as moreclearly shown in Fig. 9. The bottom of the stiles 31 and 32 extend apredetermined distance below the bottom of the bottom rail or base 33,there being a supporting foot 38 positioned substantially at the forwardend of the lower horizontal rail 33. The upper end of the lower rail 33is provided with spaced angularly arranged sockets 39, Fig. 4, toreceive the butt ends of the gun stocks, while the upper rail 34 isprovided with openings 40 which are of the closed four-leaf-cloverdesign, like the openings 12 shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The corner rack 30 may be provided with a curved locking bar 41, Figs. 8and 9, which is arranged a slight distance above the corner tie rod 37.The curved locking bar 41 is provided with an extension or tenon 42which fits into a mortise 43 provided in the side rail 31, the curvedlocking rod 41 being arranged above the tie rod 37. A locking device 44,Figs. 8 and 9, comprises an elongated bolt 45 fitting into a socket 46formed in the right side rail 32. A spring 47 is disposed behind thebolt 45 so as to urge the locking bolt 45 inwardly into engagement withits socket or keeper 46 in the stile 32. The locking bar 41, therefore,is positioned in place by inserting the tenon 42 on the left-hand side,Fig. 9, into its cooperating socket or cut out 43, whereupon theright-hand end of the locking bar 41 may be just pressed inwardly,causing the bolt 45 to snap in place in its open- 6 ing: or keeper 46,whereupon the bolt 45 is locked in position.

A transverse hole 48 is provided in the locking bar 41 at the rear ofthe locking bar 41, Fig, 9, and is adapted to engage a pin 49 behind theinner end of the locking bolt 45, Fig. 9. Inasmuch as the pin 49 isrelatively small and protrudes only a short distance rearwardly from therear end of the locking bar 41, it is unnoticed and unobserved, and,therefore, in effect, comprises a secret locking member, whereupon theguns are prevented from being removed from the rack 30 unless the pin 49is manually pulled outwardly a distance sufficient to permit the bolt 45to be moved outwardly of its keeper 46. A slide member 50, Fig. 8, isarranged at the bottom of the locking bar 41 and is attached to thelocking bolt 45 so that when the member 50 is slid to the left, Fig. 8,with the pin 49 first removed from its opening 48, the locking bolt 45may be removed from its socket or keeper 46.

Normally, the slide member 50 is practically unnoticed because it isarranged at the bottom of the curved locking bar 41 and arranged in aplane below the normal horizontal sight of a person. Even though someoneshould see the slide member 50, which is secured to the bolt 45,movement of the locking bolt 45 is still prevented because of theexistence of the pin 49 in its hole 48 which is at the rear side of thelocking bar 41, and definitely out of sight. Therefore, the operation ofthe bolt 45 by removal from its keeper normally is prevented unlesssomeone definitely knows of the existence of the pin 49, or unless thepin 49 has previously been removed from its opening 48.

Guns may not be removed from the rack 30 when the curved locking bar 41is arranged in position because the forearm will strike the bottom ofthe rail 34 should the guns be raised. Even though the guns were turnedto a position so as to have their stocks normally fiat or parallel withthe locking bar 41 and the tie rod 37, they still could not be removedas the locking bar 41 and the rear stretcher or tie rod 37 would preventeither forward or rearward movement, as previously explained withrespect to the guns mounted in the rack 1 wherein there is employed alocking bar 20 and a rear stretcher or tie rod 22.

The sockets 39 in the bottom rail 33 are radially disposed, four suchsockets being shown in Fig. 4. These sockets 39 receive the butts of gunstocks, the sockets being in alinement with the cooperating fourclover-leaf shaped openings 40 in the top rail 34 and angularly arrangedrelative thereto as heretofore described in connection with theembodiment of Figs. 1 and 2. The locking bar 41 is arranged so as toengage the gun barrel forwardly of the gun trigger guards; and the spacebetween the rails 33 and 34 is such that while the guns should be raiseda certain distance, the forearms of the guns will engage the bottom ofthe top rail 34, and the curved locking bar 41 will prevent the gunsfrom being pulled out. However, should the corner gun rack 30 bearranged in a triangul'arly-shaped corner cabinet, the forward ends ofthe top rail 40 may be cut out, as indicated at 29, Fig. 5, so as topermit the guns to be removed from the front. However, under suchcircumstances, the curved locking bar 41 may be omitted, as the gun willbe in a cabinet which has doors which may be locked by a key.

The invention comprises a gun rack which includes a bottom rail havingsockets formed therein to receive butts of gun stocks cooperating withfour-leaf-clover openings provided in the top rails of each rack.Locking means may be provided for locking the guns in place andpreventing their removal in all cases except where the racks may beinserted in door-locked cabinets. In this latter arrangement, it isdesirable to dispense with the locking rod 20 or locking bar 41, and toprovide cut outs 29 in the forward edges of the rails so as to permitthe guns to be inserted easily in the cabinet without any danger ofmarring, scratching, or otherwise damaging the inside of the cabinet.

Changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of theparts Without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificingany of its advantages, and the right is hereby reserved to make all suchchanges as fall fairly Within the scope of the following claims.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

1'. A gun rack comprising a pair of spaced vertical stiles, a lowerhorizontal rail secured at opposite ends to said stiles, a plurality ofspaced substantially oval sockets in the upper face of said lower railfor receiving butts of gun stocks, and an upper horizontal rail securedat opposite ends to said stiles and having a, plurality of spacedopenings of the same number as said sockets wherein each opening alignsvertically with a socket, each opening having lobes of identical sizearranged in the shape of a four leaf clover and being positioned so thata line passing through the centers of one set of diagonally arrangedlobes and the longitudinal axis of an aligned socket is substantially ina common vertical plane.

2. A gun rack as defined in claim 1, wherein slots are provided in thetop rail to open the openings to the front of the rail and permit gunbarrels to pass therethrough.

3. A gun rack as defined in claim 1, including a locking bar across thefront of. the rack, and a tie rod across the back of the rack, the spacebetween the locking bar and the tie rod being such as to prevent removalof a gun from the rack when the gun barrel is in a four-leaf-cloveropening and the locking bar is in locked position.

4. A gun rack as defined in claim 1, and a locking bar across the frontof the rack having a stationary projection on one end engageable in arecess in one of said stiles and a movable projection on the other endengageable in a recess in the other of said stiles.

5. A gun rack as defined in claim 1, and a locking bar slidable throughone of said stiles in either direction and slidable through the other ofsaid stiles in one direction, and means lockable on said bar to preventmovement thereof through said other stile in the other direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

